The internet is chock-full of so many bizarre conspiracy theories that it’s not always easy to keep track, just like it’s not always easy to separate actual conspiracies from parody ones.

Birds Aren’t Real, a “movement” that’s picked up enough steam to prompt a recent New York Times profile piece on founder Peter McIndoe, falls firmly into the latter category.

The parody theory is pretty much exactly what the name suggests — that instead of being real creatures, birds are in fact surveillance drones operated by the U.S. government.

In a twist no one could have anticipated, the government itself got in on the joke.

Tweet may have been deleted

Yep, that’s the official Twitter account of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, a government agency concerned with protecting the public from unsafe products.

The tweet received thousands of retweets, and the USCPSC didn’t stop there — they used their opportunity to meme, and meme hard.

Well, you certainly can’t fault their level of effort.

Will the thread convince Birds Aren’t Real diehards? That remains unclear. But it’s certainly provided a handy marketing opportunity for the USCPSC’s safer products website.

Mashable